Safety ladder basket



May 20, 1952 R. SITEK SAFETY LADDER BASKET Filed July 6, 1948 INVENTOR LOUIS R. SITEK ATTORNE S Patented May 20, 952

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 2,597,756. SAFETY LADDER BASKET Louis B. Sitek, Milwaukee, Wis. Application July e, 1948, Serial No. 31,297

This invention appertains to ladders. and more particularly to a novel attachment therefor. One'of the primary objects of my invention is to provide a novel means for detachably connecting a basket or like receptacle to a ladder for the holding of tools, paint brushes and buckets and the like, within easy reach" of a person working on the ladder.

Another salient object of my invention is to provide means for attaching a basket or the like to the desired rungs of a ladder at a preferred height and in such a position that the same will be out of the way of a person working on the ladder and yet in convenient reach of the person, so that articles can be readily placed in or removed from the basket.

A further object of my invention is to provide attaching straps directly carried by the front and rear walls of the basket for connection with spaced rungs of the ladder, means being carried by one of the straps for preventing accidental dislodgement of the basket from the ladder.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a ladder attachment of the above character which will be durable and efficient in use, one that will be simple and easy to manufacture and one which can be placed upon the market at a reasonable cost.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which drawing:

Figure 1 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view showing my improved attachment in position on a ladder, the section being taken substantially on the line 1-4 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary rear elevational view showing the attachment applied to a ladder, parts of the view being shown broken away and in section.

Figure 3 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing a slightly modified form of my attachment applied to a ladder having converging side rails, the section being taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary front elevational view showing the modified form of my attach- 1 Claim (01.248-210) '2 ment applied to the ladder having converging side rails.'

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter A generally indicates my improved basket attachment for connection with a ladder L.

Theladder L forms no part of the present invention and has been illustrated to show the use of the attachment. Consequently, the ladder L canbe of a well known type now commonly used. As illustrated, the ladder L includes spaced longitudinally extending side rails 6 and 1 and connecting rungs 8.

The basket attachment A includes a basket or receptacle proper 9 of a desired size and shape to conveniently hold tools, paint brushes and buckets, fixtures and the like. The basket 8 can be made from any desired material but is preferred fabricated from metal or molded from a plastic material. The basket or receptacle includes a bottom wall I!) and upstanding end walls II and front and rear walls l2 and I3. Rigidly secured to the front wall 12 are a pair of spaced hooks l4. These hooks are of a size to conveniently snap over the desired rung 8 of the ladder L. The hooks M can be formed on shanks I5 which can be riveted or otherwise secured to the front wall l2, such as by bolts [6. The shanks of the hooks extend above the basket so that the bills of the hooks can conveniently engage the desired rung.

The rear wall [3 of the basket has secured thereto a centrally disposed supporting strap I1 and this strap extends upwardly and inwardly between the hooks M. It is preferred to adjustably mount the strap I! on the rear wall I3 so as to take care of varying distances between rungs of ladders. Hence, the lower end of the strap can be provided with a series of openings l8. The rear wall l3 has also formed therein openings I9 and the desired opening [8 in the strap can be brought into registration with the openings I9, after which bolts 20 can be passed through the registering openings to holdthe strap in place. The upper end of the strap has formed thereon a resilient bent-back arm 2| which is adapted to be sprung over the next adjacent rung above the rung engaged by the hooks M. The resilient arm 2| is provided with openings 22 which can be brought into registration with desired openings 23 in the body of the strap. A bolt and winged nut 24 can be provided for securing the arm to the body of the strap after side rails.

the same has been sprung over the desired rung.

In use of my attachment A the person on the ladder judges the height at which he desires the attachment to be placed and the hook I4 is placed over the correct rung. The resilient arm 21 is sprung over the next upper adjacent rung and the same is secured in place. The receptacle forms a convenient means for receiving the tools, paint brushes, buckets and the like and as the basket is on the inside of the ladder the same is completely out of the way of the operator moving up and down the ladder; yet the basket is so placed that the contents thereof can be easily reached.

In some ladders and particularly those used by window washers, the side rails thereof -'c'onverge toward their upper ends. In'Figurs .4 and 5, I have shown such a ladder. In these figures, the side rails are indicated by the refernce'ch'aracter 25 and the connecting rungs by the reference character 26. -Topermit the insect the fattachment with this type of ladder the semen beslightly modified. Hence, in this .formaof the invention I have shown hooks 21 which :aresecured to the basket in relatively close relation so that the same will engage arung between'the The hooks 2:! can have elongated forwardly projecting arms 28 so that when the basket engages the side rails the hooks can -"'still conveniently engage over a rung. In other =respects the form of the invention shown in Figures 4 and 5 is the same as shown in Figures 1 and 2. From the foregoing description, it can be seen that I have provided a simple and novel attachment for holding tools and the like in .a

convenient position on a ladder.

Changes in details may be made without deupwardly and then inwardly between the arms,

an adiustable loop on the upper end of the strap for engaging about a rung above the rung ensweaty-t e hooks, said rear wall having spaced vertically aligned openings disposed centrally of saidarms, correspondingly aligned openings on the mw'er vertically extending end of the strap and means extending through any two of said aligned openings in the rear wall and strap for 4 urihg the strap to the rear wall whereby the di'sta ce between the hooks and the loop on the upper end'of the strap may be varied.

LOUIS R. SITEK.

REFERENCES CITED 'ZChe f'ioll'owing' references are 'of record in the file of this patent:

UNI STATES PATENTS .Number Name Date 1,429,686 o Brien Sept. 19, 1922 -2;485,685 llrmstr'ong Oct. 25, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 719,845 France Jan. 19, 1935 

